Raiment Fete: Clothing Swap Event Planning

UX Role
End to End feature designer working with Design Lab mentor, Charithra Aswamy.
Mission
Raiment Fete facilitates more clothing swaps in NYC and eases pain points of the organizers while also meeting new friends and like-minded community.
Timeline
Nov - dec 2022
Overview and Problem
Raiment Fete is an app that i conceptualized and owned from start to finish. I identified a gap in the second hand clothing industry where individuals who attempted to host or participate in clothing swaps or exchanges found them challenging to organize.
As NYC promotes a sustainable culture by encouraging “stooping” and thrifting, the seasonal clothing swap I co-host among my own friends serves as a semi-annual tradition where we get together after changing out our closets from the warm to cold seasons.
The inconveniences of living in New York City meant it was difficult in finding a location that would accommodate large groups or even planning to get all of one’s donation items (large or small) was a transport hurdle in the city. Additionally, it was difficult to find more information on where to find and join clothing swaps. Through market research and primary user interviews, I created a event planning space where individuals can plan swaps and invite friends.
Research
I began with a high level comparison of businesses in the sustainable fashion industry. This gave me some insight on how New Yorkers participated in exchanging goods, but overall information about city wide clothing swaps or public swaps was limited.
From my experience, clothing swaps are an eco-friendly way to refresh one's wardrobe, while also meeting new friends and like-minded community. In interviewing my co-hosts, as well as individuals who previously attended clothing swaps and were familiar with the process. I wanted to understand how they engaged in the second hand community space.
NYC based Market Research/User Surveys
In doing the competitive analysis of New york's options, I realized there wasn’t much offering in the space and that individuals are pretty much left to their own devices if they want to plan their own.
view research
research findings
by surveying the questions above, I was able to create data points in where people were frustrated or encouraged to swap.
  • User Interface and Experience Enhancing the user interface and overall user experience could make navigation and item browsing more intuitive and seamless.
  • Reported instances of misrepresented itemsor quality issues, which can lead to customer dissatisfaction.
  • Poshmark charges a commission fee on each sale made through the platform. While this is a common practice in many online marketplaces, some sellers might find the fees to be relatively high
  • Community and Forums SwapStyle has a community forum where users can engage in discussions, seek advice, and connect with other swappers. This feature encourages interaction and fosters a sense of community
Limited clothing swaps in NYC area
Swaps provide a third space that fosters community
  • Swaps are great for meeting new people and expanding network
  • Major pain points include: what do wiith leftover items, where to host the swap, finding a good time for everyone
  • 5 out of 5 participants indicated they cherish clothing swaps and would like them to be more well known and pain points alleviated include: what do with leftover items, where to host the swap, finding a good time for everyone

Thoughtfully applying research info...
I began with a high level comparison of businesses in the sustainable fashion industry. This gave me some insight on how New Yorkers participated in exchanging goods, but overall information about city wide clothing swaps or public swaps was limited.
From my experience, clothing swaps are an eco-friendly way to refresh one's wardrobe, while also meeting new friends and like-minded community. In interviewing my co-hosts, as well as individuals who previously attended clothing swaps and were familiar with the process. I wanted to understand how they engaged in the second hand community space.
User Personas
Swaps provide a third space that fosters community
  • Sustainability: Believed to make a positive impact on the planet and in a social/communal way and are inclined to look for ways to incorporate sustainable practices into their daily life.
  • Resourcefulness: They may be discouraged by events that do not offer a wide selection of 2nd hand clothing items or that are not well-organized.
  • Inclusivity: They may also be hesitant to attend events that are not inclusive or do not prioritize diversity and representation.
  • Encounters challenges in finding a suitable venue for the event, attracting enough participants to make the event successful, and managing the logistics of the event (e.g., sorting and organizing clothing items). May also face competition from other events happening in the area.

Gathering Input: Stakeholders
With interview and research notes at hand, I created perspective statements that would help me develop a features list. I focused in on User Goals and Tech considerations, but also included Business Goals for why it would behoove us to have an app in the first place. The business goals were done for mock settings but helped narrow the Priorities list for what to begin my task flows.
Swaps provide a third space that fosters community
  • Swaps are great for meeting new people and expanding network
  • Major pain points include: what do wiith leftover items, where to host the swap, finding a good time for everyone
  • 5 out of 5 participants indicated they cherish clothing swaps and would like them to be more well known and pain points alleviated include: what do with leftover items, where to host the swap, finding a good time for everyone

Ideating Workflows
I began with a high level comparison of businesses in the sustainable fashion industry. This gave me some insight on how New Yorkers participated in exchanging goods, but overall information about city wide clothing swaps or public swaps was limited.
From my experience, clothing swaps are an eco-friendly way to refresh one's wardrobe, while also meeting new friends and like-minded community. In interviewing my co-hosts, as well as individuals who previously attended clothing swaps and were familiar with the process. I wanted to understand how they engaged in the second hand community space.
User and Task Flows
Scaling out the user and task flows allowed me to create a hand drawn basic wireframes.
Planning simplified: Simply bring your swap goods
It is a bit surprising that Chase’s current check out icon is a bit useless. It is impossible to add more than one flight to the cart which defeats the purpose of having a cart in the first place...
Adding an icon for an itinerary lets users consider and compare flights they are not ready to purchase yet.
UI Kit
Wireframes
I began with a high level comparison of businesses in the sustainable fashion industry. This gave me some insight on how New Yorkers participated in exchanging goods, but overall information about city wide clothing swaps or public swaps was limited.
From my experience, clothing swaps are an eco-friendly way to refresh one's wardrobe, while also meeting new friends and like-minded community. In interviewing my co-hosts, as well as individuals who previously attended clothing swaps and were familiar with the process. I wanted to understand how they engaged in the second hand community space.
Planning simplified: Simply bring your swap goods
Next Steps...
It was observed that several users encountered difficulties locating the "add to itinerary" button during their interactions. Respondents expressed a desire for a more intuitive placement of this feature, suggesting that its current positioning might be inconspicuous.